Coelho aiming to wrap it up at Hudy Arena
The Yokomo Euro Touring Series travels to rc racing’s bucket list topping Hudy Arena this weekend (16-18 June) but unlike previous visits to the home of Xray the event will not mark the traditional conclusion to the season for the world famous touring car championship. Now scheduled in as Round 5 of 6, the ETS’ fifth trip to Slovakia however looks likely to decide the Season #10 champion with Bruno Coelho already within hands reach of successfully defending his title. The only one who can attempt to deny Coelho form celebrating one of the sport’s most coveted titles on Sunday night is World Champion Ronald Volker. With Coelho having three wins from four races, Volker is the only other winner this season but the Yokomo driver needs to dominate on a track where he has only won once before when the ETS made its first visit in 2013. Coelho on the other hand has never failed to win at his ‘home track’ since making his championship debut and would love to wrap up the title with that record remaining intact.
While all the attention will be on seeing if Volker can force the title to be decided in his home country, Ettlingen in Germany the new location for the season finale, a number of drivers will be striving for their own personal success at the Hudy Arena. Having given Infinity its first international title when he won the Reedy Race of Champions last month, Marc Rheinard will be aiming to give the Japanese newcomer its first ETS win as a manufacturer. Missing out on the podium at Round 4 in Italy for the first time since joining Infinity, that result ended the German’s title hopes. Given the track’s ownership, winning at the Hudy Arena would now be the next best thing and it’s something he has done once before when he led a Tamiya 1-2 from Viktor Wilck there in 2014 albeit before the arrival of Coelho.
Claiming a surprise but very popular podium finish last time out behind Coelho and Volker, Elliott Harper will be looking to repeat that performance for the relatively small Schumacher team. The multiple World Championship finalist, put his second ever ETS podium down to progress made by the team finding a set-up for asphalt and after his confidence boosting performance he should be in the mix this weekend having made the final on his previous visit to the Hudy Arena.
Having made his first A-Main this season in Italy, Wilck would go on to be competitive at the Reedy Race of Champions eventually finishing on the podium. While a unique race format, the Serpent driver did have good speed and having made the A-Main every year at the Hudy Arena we might see the Swede back mixing it at the sharp end of the field. Fellow countryman Alexander Hagberg has contributed to an Xray 1-2 here the last two years and after his misfortunes in Italy the 1:12 European Champion will be looking to bounce back.
In Pro Stock, it is also the reigning champion who leads the way but Jan Ratheisky has yet to register a win. The season so far has seen three different winners with Ratheisky’s Xray team-mate Alexandre Duchet claiming two of those. Second in the standings, the French driver took a surprise win at the season opener and a win on the championship’s first visit to Madrid. Bringing the challenge to Xray is Awesomatix with Olivier Bultynck holding third in the standings with a win at Round 2 to his credit. The Russian manufacturer added a second win with team manager Max Mächler taking a very popular first ETS win in Italy. In the Scorpion Power Formula class, it is two wins a piece for champion Ratheisky and Serpent’s David Ehrbar with just a single point separating the two title contenders.
